NvB: Bored in Brno?

Do you want to make money? . . . It’s your choice . . .

Come to Brno. The market seems pretty good at the moment, and you need only a few qualifications: be good looking and have low inhibitions. It's that easy! The number of ads aimed at "pretty girls" wanting to "make money" around Brno recently caught my attention. In answer to a friend of mine who asked why I was so curious about this side of the city, I said that I'd rather not see this side of Brno, but it can't be ignored either. Most of the posters are ads that you can see on public transportation around Brno, at advertising kiosks on the street, and (not surprisingly) in the main train station. The ads, I think, speak for themselves, but I can't resist a few remarks. (Translations are my own.)

Internet company will arrange work for attractive girls on videochat.
We offer the best paid DS in Brno.
Possibilities of 4 or 8 hour shifts.
More at . . .

You can blame it on American prudishness, but these ads bother me. People often note that Europeans are more comfortable with sex as a topic and a part of life. That, I find, is usually true. Something else is going on here, though.

Has someone already offered you
*guaranteed payment of 1000 crowns [currently about 42 USD] for a six-hour shift?
*one dollar for every minute of your private internet show?
*possibility of a 500 dollar bonus per month?
*possibility of a yearly bonus of up to 5000 dollars?
*a signing bonus of up to 30000 crowns [currently about 1250 USD]?

If you answered NO to any of the above, are older than 18, know what is involved in internet modeling, and have at least basic English skills, then give us a call at . . .

Do you know one of these languages?
German * Italian * French * Spanish

*Are you over 18 and attractive?
*We have a wonderful opportunity for you to make money through work in videochat
*Don’t hesitate to give us a try
*We will be glad to welcome you to our young, friendly, and exclusively female team

We also offer:
*Professionally outfitted studios in the center of Brno
*Participation in foreign trade fairs and promotional activities – We arrange commissions for professional photography with modeling agencies – EARN EXTRA PROFITS!
*Flexible work schedules – We work nonstop, and girls themselves choose how often they can work; we guarantee transportation around Brno
*Monthly stipend – we guarantee your monthly salary and do not pay based on a schedule of monthly minutes
*Monthly bonuses [details obscured]

Call or write . . .

It is simply this easy to make money!

A respected foreign company that specializes in the field of electronic media and on-line communication seeks working girls for simple and interesting work on a part- or full-time basis.

We offer:
Flexible work schedules. Suitable for students and housewives. No work at booths or door-to-door sales.

Since there is really too much that I don't know about these ads to make any overarching judgment, I offer a few questions and thoughts. How much does a person who responds to an ad like this actually know about what they are getting into? Who looks out for these workers' rights? Are the workers unionized? Are these companies regulated? How and by whom? What are the working conditions? What percentage of the profits go to the models? (One dollar a minute would be a very high salary here, but I suspect that the "foreign customers" can and do pay more to watch.) These jobs are marketed to Czechs, but many sites assure prospective "girls" that work will be conducted with foreigners in the foreign language. While Czech society (and European society in general) is much more tolerant of sex-related themes in everyday situations than America, why is the product marketed exclusively to foreigners? Are the chatrooms, as some advertisements indicate, really not viewable from Czech servers? How is this possible? If all this is as run-of-the-mill as the ads might encourage us to think, then what is there to hide?

(See how innocuous it could be? The "little kitchen" seen at left, a picture taken from one of the websites, might present the image of hominess and normality.)

It takes only a few clicks on the listed websites to confirm that these advertisements are not looking for people to answer the phone. These positions often encourage far more than "soft" videochat—always, of course, for a large bonus or other higher pay. The real purpose of these ads is clear: to attract women who are willing to market, package, and re-sell images of their body. The actual details of the offer are usually in quite small print on the posters. It is the images, internet addresses, and phone numbers that catch the eye of passersby on the street. Judging by the images, these ads are aimed toward women who want to use or increase their good looks and make more money. (Could they also be aimed at husbands or boyfriends who want to show their partners off? Or couples with an exhibitionist streak or, perhaps more likely, an empty bank account?)

I do not want to condemn the people who may answer these ads or take these jobs. Presumably every "girl" that works for these companies has a unique story and, I hope, can stand up for herself. Yet I worry that people who answer ads like this may see themselves in a financial situation verging on the desperate and perhaps, in order to gain an independent income, will do out-of-the-ordinary jobs. This hunch is strengthened by the reasons one company gives, in the form of questions on their Web site, to take a job with them: "There are plenty of reasons to work with us! Do you want to realize your dreams? Are you having financial difficulties? Are you interested in changing careers? Are you studying and want to enjoy yourself a bit? Is there unemployment in your area?"

The patronizing, colonial tone of the advertisements is also disturbing. This is, perhaps, largely implied, an issue to be noticed only by someone who has been steeped for the past few years in an American graduate-school humanities program where discussions often turn toward power-relations, affirmative action, and post-colonial studies. Nonetheless, I suspect that I am not the only one who would be disturbed that these companies are often "foreign" and obviously market their "girls" to non-Czech ("Western") audiences. Sure, it would be a gig that pays well. But what are you compromising in return?

We are looking for (male and female) models for American videochat

You can choose from a few possibilities:
*Wage up to 1 USD/min
*Fee of up to 1500Kč/shift
*And now we newly offer 10,000Kč for 10 shifts

We require at least a basic knowledge of English. [We have a] Workplace in the center of Brno, nonstop service, professional entry. Work is suitable even for students. Access to the chat is not possible from the Czech and Slovak Republics. At night we can pick you up and drop you off in our company vehicle.

This is all easy for me to write about, but what do the employees of the video chat companies say? What do Brno residents think? Are these ads ignored or just seen and forgotten? I can imagine some Czechs saying, "Well, it's a free country now, and people can do what they want. It shows personal initiative, and it's a good income." The underlying ambivalences – that you have a job but you might be abandoning your values for money, that your standard of living is better but you are not sure that you are in control of your own body – is a most disturbing undercurrent of ads like this. Whatever these advertisements mean, they are an aspect of life here. It might surprise some people, but then again these sorts of industries are all over the place. And hey, it's a free country. (You just have to pay for some things.)

Related: "Anything for Money…," article by Fabiano Golgo in Lidové noviny, 25 October 2005 (the link is only in Czech).

Tags: Brno, Czech, society, jobs, life

Posted 11 April 2006 at 11:13.